HP Omen 17 Review

For the most part, gaminglaptops are made to look aggressive, with angular bodies, multicolored lights on the lid and keyboard and big stylized fan vents.

You might also find extra buttons or other controls on the keyboard deck, making these systems appear more like a mobile command center than a laptop. HP, however, took more of an “iron fist in a velvet glove” approach with the 17-inch Omen

Display

Another really good facet about the HP OMEN 17 is the display panel. It’s 17.3-inches and an IPS panel. Being a 4K panel, you really appreciate it since the GTX 1070 that’s powering the HP OMEN 17 can do justice to it.

The panel makes use of an RBG sub-pixel arrangement, has an average luminance of 338 nits and a very uniform brightness level across the board.

Keyboard and Touchpad

HP’s keyboard is backlit but with a single colour. It’s not exactly a disappointment but you have to give what the consumers want.

The selection of keys switches is optimal, they’re chiclet-buttons and they feel just fine. We can’t say anything more than this, because there frankly isn’t much to talk about.

Some of the competition have frequently used keys like the space bar or the WASD keys to be textured differently, but that’s not the case here. There are no extra macro keys either.

The touchpad though not used for gaming, is one of the redeeming factors of the HP OMEN 17 gaming notebook. It’s large, has no physical separation for the left and right clicks and the texture is slick. It’s not too glossy which causes sweaty fingers to stick not is is too rough. It hits the right note.

The Omen has three USB 3.0 ports with one on the left and two on the right. Also on the left are separate mic and headphone jacks joined on the right by an SD card reader, Ethernet jack and HDMI and Mini DisplayPort outputs.